The shortage of cyber-security talent and the enormous increase in cyber attacks has been well documented. The equation leaves enterprises fighting an uphill battle. But there are new ways for an organization to bridge the talent gap while fending off cyber threats.

Problem 1: So Many Cyber Threats and Alerts, So Few Resources

The sheer volume of security alerts and threats can overwhelm even the best security analyst. But what happens to those organizations that have a shortage of talent in their security or network operations centers? What if they are the target of a sophisticated cyber attack? Does their current staff have the right level of training to handle the threat? Do they have the tools they need to identify potential network and security issues? How can an organization do more with less?

So why is it so hard to hire more cyber security talent?

According to the 2015 ISACA/RSA Conference study, enterprises are having a difficult time hiring skilled people as it takes 53% of organizations between 3 and 6 months to fill a security position, and 10% cannot fill them at all.

Even with strong salaries, jobs go unfilled — According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the most recent median pay for an information security analyst is $88,890 per year – also mentioning that the typical entry level education is a Bachelor’s degree with the highest 10% earning more than $140,460.

Problem 2: The attack surface is growing and cyber attacks are more sophisticated

According to a PWC 2016 Global State of Information Security Survey, Cyber security incidents have surged 38% since 2014 and theft of “hard” intellectual property increased 56% in 2015.

The ISACA/RSA Conference study also notes the “adversarial growth and innovation” of cyber-attacks and attackers. In a 2015 SearchSecurity Article, Eddie Schwartz, Chief of ISACA’s Cybersecurity Task Force indicates that, “in the past five-seven years there has been a dramatic surge in advanced threats and malware; much of it is more sophisticated than reasonable security practices and procedures driven by compliance regimes. And the emergence of security professionals that can cope with advanced threats and advanced adversaries hasn’t kept up with the changes in cybersecurity”, according to Schwartz.

And as with any network security challenge that exists, CSO’s and CISO’s are concerned about, “How can my organization maintain the security with limited resources?”

The short answer? There’s no silver bullet. The longer answer? Read on to find out how.

Limited human resources combined with sophisticated attacks are forcing security solution providers to up their game. One fundamental realization that has occurred is the necessity of Network Operations Centers (NOC) and Security Operations Centers (SOC) to work in a more integrated fashion – essentially bridging the gap between the two silos. By automating error-prone manual workflows between these two groups, the response time and effectiveness against threats can be improved significantly.

A second shift is the move towards security automation and away from error-prone manual processes. Technology proponents agree that this is critical towards accelerating the response time and increasing effectiveness against cyber threats. Enhanced security can be achieved with security automation solutions that allow organizations to use policy-based decisions to automate threat response – including containment and remediation.

The pressure on security teams can be alleviated with security automation solutions designed to integrate multiple third-party networking, security and trouble-ticketing systems that can provide endpoint and network visibility, contextual awareness, automated threat response and mitigation throughout the security monitoring and incident response process.

To reduce the risk of talent shortages and an increasing workload, we’ve brainstormed a list of key areas to protect your network as part of your enterprise-wide network security posture.

Everything starts with network visibility – You cannot protect what you cannot see. The first step is to identify and profile every single trusted and untrusted device on the network. The second step is to lock down network ports to prevent rouge devices from joining the network. The third step is to enable network segmentation by implementing dynamic network access control. These are critical steps towards implementing security automation.

Leverage security automation – Security analysts are overwhelmed with security alerts from multiple security solutions that require attention. Accelerating incident response and shortening threat containment time via automation is essential. Organizations can more easily identify vulnerable or compromised devices and contain them in real-time. If security resources are an issue, security automation is the way to go to bridge the talent gap.

The cyber security talent shortage is a growing challenge for organizations of all sizes and finding ways to overcome this with security automation is the best route. Since the talent shortage won’t be solved overnight, organizations can align their teams and leverage technology to meet business needs while enhancing their cyber security strategy.

Interested in learning more about ways to automate your network security? Learn more about Bradford Networks products qa.bradfordnetworks.com.